Russell Lawrence
Russell Lawrence is the current (and second) captain of the Devil Pirates, serving officially as its doctor and chronicler, as well. However, given his lazy nature, his position as the crew's captain (and strongest fighter) is often overlooked. Appearance Lawrence appears to be a man of average build, possessing neither superhuman stature, or the muscles associated with their kind. He is, in fact, quite skinny, and possesses an easy smile, which often puts others at ease. His red hair has led to one epithet, Red-Haired Lawrence, while the perpetually lazy and sleepy expression has lended itself to another epithet; Randa (Lazy; idle) Lawrence. He claims color-blindness to his apparent lack of dress sense, wearing clashing colors most often, and highly tasteless ties, though he is almost never seen without a white lab coat, and occassionally a stethoscope. Personality Lazy almost to a fault, he is actually rarely seen, even by his crewmates. This is perhaps because of his penchant for sleeping sixteen-eighteen hours a day. Whenever any of his odd habits or quirks are questioned, he merely passes it off by saying: "I'm a doctor, so it's okay," or blaming some sort of affliction, such as narcolepsy or color-blindness. Abilities Medicine Lawrence is a highly gifted doctor, and as such, he has access to a rather large number of medicines and the like; this means, of course, that he has a nigh-encyclopedic knowledge on how to use these for good or for not, allowing him to drug or knock out his enemies with overdoses of medicine when he does not feel like expending too much effort. Martial Arts Following years of personal training and discipline, Lawrence is a highly competent fighter, even without his Devil Fruit. With supernatural physical strength and speed (though not to some extreme levels, like Soru), he is capable of using high-powered punches and kicks, listed below. Straight Shot A single, high-powered punch after launching himself forward. Dragon Rise A launching strike. Beast Fall Following Dragon Rise into the air, a powerful kick to slam the target back into the ground. Zodiac A powerful roundhouse kick that carries his opponent on his leg, before launching them away. Real Impact A powerful, rib-shattering palm blow. Launches Lawrence forward after Zodiac to smack his enemy either into the ground, or into the air. Scythe Heel Lawrence's favored finishing move; following Real Impact (ground), Lawrence supports himself on his palm, and brings down a crushing heel on his enemy's face. Devil Fruit Having eaten the Inpakuto-Inpakuto no Mi (Impact-Impact Fruit), Lawrence has gained the powers traditionally associated with Impact Dials; whenever one of his bones is struck with a blunt force, the energy of such an attack is absorbed into the marrow of his bones, allowing him to later release the energy from nine points of contact; forehead, fists, elbows, knees, and feet. This contributes to his lazy nature, as in any fight, he is incapable of attacking without the force of his opponents. His taunting nature often leads to others discovering this far too late. Single Barrel: The most rudimentary technique; focusing one charge into one of the nine points of contact. Double Barrel: The usage of two charges, released from two different points at once. Rising Barrel: Releasing two charges through his feet (or more often, one charge through his palm), the user is capable of launching themselves into the air, whereupon they can release the fruit's powerful finishing moves. Hammer Barrel: A mid-air grab, followed by a powerful headbutt. Can be followed up by a Double Barrel to increase distance between the two fighters. Can also be followed by Falling Barrel. Air Hike: Releasing several charges in the air, the user is able to seemingly defy gravity, blasting off of thin air to increase maneuverability, or to launch themselves into opponents for the most powerful finishing move. Falling Barrel: Following Hammer Barrel, the user can follow the probably-stunned opponent to the ground, finally releasing a charge into their chest right after they bounce on impact, drilling them into the ground. Can, in turn, be followed by any number of charges the user would care to expend. '''Bounce Barrel: '''Once the user has reached Overlimit, every time they are launched into a surface, they bounce off violently, allowing the user to act as a sort of supercharged rubber ball. Relationships Family Rosa: Lawrence's only known family. He is extremely protective of the girl nine years his junior, and regards her safety as the only thing truly worth fighting for. Her location is, for the most part, unknown, protected on a small island in the middle of the Grand Line by a number of fishmen who owe loyalty to Lawrence, over money or otherwise. Her life-threatening disease (the Drum Plague) is Lawrence's reason for becoming a pirate. Crew Lawrence maintains a somewhat distant relationship with his crewmates, letting most of the actual "captaining" go to his second-in-command, Hiroshi. Despite this, he is rather well-respected for being firm when need be, and letting his fellow pirates more or less do as they please, as long as they don't interfere in anything he tries to do. He is also quite respected as a nigh-invaluable member of the crew; their doctor. Marines Lawrence has an unusual relationship with the Marines; previously being a substitute doctor on a local Marine base, he is a well-recognized face, and unlike most other pirates, he adamantly refuses to attack them. However, though he doesn't personally attack them, they are an oft-picked target by his crew, leading to his current bounty of image:Bsymbol10.gif40,000,000. History The Drum Plague and the Devil Pirates Having been raised on the island of Drum Kingdom, it seemed Lawrence was always poised to become a doctor. With the death of his mother during his sister's birth, and a father who was supposedly lost at sea to scurvy, a love for medicine and the curing of sick folk was instilled in Lawrence at an early age, as well as a deep-set sense of responsibilty, being left with his infant sister to take care of at the age of nine. He found a home with the prodigious doctors of Drum Island, and learned their craft from an early age. Five years saw the development of a deadly disease in the unlikeliest of places; the island of doctors, his very own Drum Kingdom. Though the Drum Plague was quickly rebuffed by the collective efforts of the doctors, a misdiagnosis on Lawrence's part and the plague's subsequent mutation in his sister saw the disease become incurable to his and any other doctors' efforts. Tormented by this, he redoubled his efforts in learning medicine. However, a mere nine years after his tutelage began, and he was starting to dabble in the effects of Devil Fruits upon the bodies of others (hoping one could be used to cure his siter) he happened across the Inpakuto-Inpakuto no Mi, incidentally thrown into a box of his favorite fruit; peaches. At first dismayed, and later delighted, by this discovery, he was set up to violently rebuke the efforts of King Wapol (for such as he was known a year after Lawrence consumed his fruit) to make him a part of the Isshin-20, before finally leaving the island with Rosa in tow. Finding them a home on a small island, he continued his research into her disease, though he found naught but frustration here. And then, a wicked idea occurred to him, and it was but a few weeks later that the Devil Pirates' ship, the Beast King, drifted by their island. A New Captain The Devil Pirates, named so for their being comprised mostly of Devil Fruit users, found an unusual man upon their ship not but a few moments after they passed the island, and within the hour, they had all but been defeated by the enterprising young doctor. Forcing the previous captain, Royo, to set out to sea on a small sailboat, there was little contest to Lawrence's rise to the captaincy. The last year has seen a vast leap through the Grand Line, and the reputation of the pirates. Feared as a crew with a bounty of over image:Bsymbol10.gif320,000,000, they mostly pillage, with a certain young man in a white lab coat paying a special visit to doctors across the Line.. Bounty Lawrence first gained a bounty just before he left his homeland of Drum Kingdom, brutally beating the king, Wapol, earning Lawrence his bounty of image:Bsymbol10.gif20,000,000. After he took over the Devil Pirates (which was itself cause for increase), he ordered a number of attacks upon medical ships, doubling his initial bounty. Oddly enough, for a captain, Lawrence possesses the lowest bounty among his main crew, as Hiroshi possesses a image:Bsymbol10.gif90,000,000 bounty, Mugen a image:Bsymbol10.gif75,000,000, Belfast a image:Bsymbol10.gif70,000,000, and the Deep Blue Brothers have a bounty totaling image:Bsymbol10.gif45,000,000, altogether. However, given the fact that bounties measure threat levels (and given Lawrence's docile nature, even as a pirate captain), his bounty in no way reflects his fighting ability. Major Battles Lawrence v. Wapol (Victor. Mostly just to prove a point.) Lawrence v. Devil Pirates (Severe handicap. Will staunchly deny that he drugged the food of the entire crew before he attacked.) Category:Characters